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Originally Posted by the_fat_man
Ahh, the pardoxes of the FAST crowd.
Let me get this straight: in an era where human athletes are performing at an all time best, equine athletes are not? Of course, the latter are certainly getting their share of 'medicinal' advantages. Why is that I wonder? The accepted position seems to be that horses are no longer bred for stamina (and are certainly much more fragile). Let's buy that and then wonder why SPRINTERS of the present era are not as fast, or faster, than those of prior ones. I've made this assumption based on your comments, as I don't look at figures.
Can you elaborate?  |
I've seen a fair amount of equine/veterinary comparative research on this topic, and indeed, human physiology does continue to improve, (with nutrition, training methods and associated tech innovations contributing), while the equine does not... no matter what end on the brilliant to solid spectrum horses are bred. Conclusions have been drawn that they appear physically capable of only reaching a certain top end speed, and no amount of improved nutrition or training appears capable of improving that. Lowering of records in harness racing for instance, has been attributed mostly to innovations and improvement of the buggy like polymer or aluminum frames, etc. I'll try to find the studies, but they're on my home computer and I'm in Florida. This is a fascinating discussion and I can bring it up on ATR with the vet guests.